


Harry Minyard-Josten

by paleromantic, trubenblack



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Adoption, Child Abuse Mentioned, Gender Dysphoria, M/M, Neil and Andrew are good dads, Neilmas2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 06:31:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17503439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paleromantic/pseuds/paleromantic, https://archiveofourown.org/users/trubenblack/pseuds/trubenblack
Summary: It hadn’t been much of a decision, really, when the time came.orThe fic where Andrew coaches little league and a child needs his help and he and Neil are doing their best to be good Dads____Neilmas Day 4





	Harry Minyard-Josten

It hadn’t been much of a decision, really, when the time came.

Andrew had gotten hurt, and that was where it began. It had been during a particularly tough game, where Neil had been run ragged and the whole team had been burning out quick. Andrew had been shutting down the goal for the majority of it, on the promise of a back rub from Neil, but that all came to an end with a blatant foul.

Neil hadn’t caught it until it was too late to stop it, his cry of Andrew’s name doing little other than gaining the man’s attention as the player ploughed straight into him, a rough full body check. He crumpled to the floor in a heap, and Neil was on him in seconds. He had broken his leg in three separate places. The recovery process had been gruelling, and long, but Andrew was much too stubborn to allow something like that to put a stop to him.

He was able to walk after a course of physiotherapy, luckily, but it had put a swift end to his Exy career. The exy community took the blow hard, their team had taken it hard too, but there was nothing that could be done about it. Andrew’s contract had ended early, and he stayed at home in their shared apartment to heal.

It wasn’t long after that they started to look at houses in the area, looking for somewhere to settle down rather than a rented apartment. Andrew took the lead in that while Neil was busy with his season, and he found a nice little house in the subarbs, with a white picket fence and everything.

If only his 15 year old self could have seen him then.

It was nice, really nice, to come home to a house that was theirs, and the cats had settled in well too. It was perfect. Once Andrew was able to move around, though, he started to get a bad case of cabin fever and started to look for jobs in the nearby area. That was where he found it.

A coach, for a little league exy team of a school for disadvantaged kids. It was _perfect_.

They were good kids, and even though Andrew had spent the majority of his life not caring very much about Exy, he knew talent when he saw it. Some of those kids had potential, and Andrew was going to make sure that they would get recognised for it. There was one girl in particular, though. Her name was Alyssa Hawthorne and she was always on time to practice, even a little early, and she hung around for a while afterwards before heading home. Andrew usually waited with her, as much as he was able. He hadn’t met her parents, but that wasn’t exactly unusual in the environment they were in. It didn’t strike him as odd, although it probably should have.

He didn’t notice just how wrong things were, until Alyssa stopped showing up to practice.

                                                                                                ________

“Lyssa, I didn’t see you at practice last week.” Andrew glanced up from his clipboard as he ticked off her name. “Is everything alright?”

Alyssa scuffed her shoes and offered him a small smile, and a nod, and then she moved along to go and get changed. Andrew frowned, but let it slide. Sometimes, kids got sick, and they had to miss things. It probably wasn’t anything to worry about.

But then, she missed the next two practices.

When she came back again, she had a distinctly hollow look in her eyes, and Andrew couldn’t just let it go anymore. After practice, when all of the kids were gone to get changed, he held her back and waited for everyone to leave.

“Is everything alright at home?”

Alyssa stared at him, and then averted her eyes. Andrew’s stomach sank.

“Alyssa, if there’s anything going on, I need you to tell me. I can’t help if you don’t tell me.”

The girl swallowed and then worried her lip between her teeth, as if weighing up her options. Her voice was so quiet when she spoke, that Andrew almost missed it. “Mom got a new boyfriend.”

Andrew felt sick, and his mind raced. “What did he do to you, Alyssa?”

She looked at the door, and then back at him. “You can’t tell the others.”

“I won’t tell any of them.” Andrew promised, firmly. It seemed to convince her, and she took a deep breath before pulling up the side of her shirt, exposing her side. It was mottled with bruises, and Andrew blew out a slow breath, flexing his fingers.

“He was drunk, he didn’t mean to-”

Andrew cut her off, teeth gritted. “He still did, though. Is he at your house now?”

She nodded. “He’s at our house all the time, he doesn’t have a job.”

Andrew breathed, and then took out his phone. “I’m calling someone, but I’m going to have to call the police Alyssa.”

She paled, and dropped her shirt back down. “Coach Minyard, you can’t- Mom would _kill_ me.”

Andrew shook his head. “Nothing bad will happen, okay? I promise.”

“Coach-”

“Do you trust me?”

Alyssa fell quiet, and then she nodded. “Yes, Coach.”

“Then trust me.”

                                                                                         ____________

 

Getting a fostering license was difficult, more difficult that Andrew had expected it to be. Neil had been extremely involved in it, which was surprising considering that it had been Andrew’s idea in the first place. Still, though, there was a child in danger and Neil was on board to take her in.

Bee and Aaron had vouched for them, in the end. Katelyn had helped, and together the three of them had been the tipping point that allowed them to get the license.

Aaron had laughed at them, when it was all said and done. He hadn’t expected them to take in kids, even though now that it was happening he couldn’t have imagined it any other way.

Andrew had to agree.

 

                                                                                           ____________

    

Neil had certainly not expected parenting to be easy. It had been a tough decision to make, his internal fear of ending up like his father or hell even turning out like his mother was something he was still struggling with. What neither he nor Andrew had expected however, was to wake up to a sink full of hair and a daughter missing. The initial panic was quieted though, this wasn’t the first time Alyssa had tried to run away since they adopted her, Andrew said it was probably just her not trusting that they could be as good as they seem. Neil believed him, he did, but he couldn’t help his own doubt that maybe she just didn’t like them.

 

Andrew stayed behind to clean up the bathroom and make sure someone was home if she decided to come back of her own accord while Neil got into the Maserati and made his way around all of Alyssa’s usual haunts when she ran away. He found her at the park curled up under a tree, her chin on her knees as her small frame shuddered with cold. Her hair was a mess, chunks cut off some too short, some long and flopping into her eyes. He made his way over to her, making sure that she noticed him before he got too close, years of dealing with Andrew and also his own demons meant he was very aware of those things. Slowly he sat down next to her but with enough room so that she didn’t feel too crowded.

 

“Are you okay?” It was the first think he could think to say, the worry that she’d been bullied into cutting her hair or that she was hurt from running held his heart tight in his chest.

 

She looked at him in a puzzled way like she couldn’t quite believe that was something he cared about before shrugging and curling more into a ball.

 

“Listen Alyssa I-.” He paused when he noticed her flinch, puzzled he thought maybe listen could be something that brought back memories, there seemed to be a lot of those, she flinched quite a lot at words, he noticed how tense Andrew got when it happened, noticed how tense he himself got when it happened, but they couldn’t know all the words she didn’t like, mistakes were going to happen. He carried on. “If you don’t want to be with us, that okay you don’t need to be if you don’t like us its okay, we’ll find you somewhere else safe that you like.” Shit, that was not the right thing to say, she was shaking harder now, fighting down tears.

 

“You don’t want me anymore?” She whispered, her voice sounded so exhausted his heart broke immediately.

 

“What? No! Not at all, I want you to stay with us as long as you can, you’re my child from my point of view.” She tensed and then relaxed at that comment, which meant he wasn’t being a terrible parent at least. “It’s just you keep running away and while I am very aware of what its like to need to run away to keep yourself safe I also need you to know that if it’s us that you’re running away from, its okay to tell us, we aren’t going to be angry, we want what’s best for you.”

 

“I’m not running away from you.” She mumbled, Neil felt himself relax but then her next words hit him. “I’m running away from myself.” That wasn’t something a 12 year old should be saying, that wasn’t something anyone should be saying.

 

“What do you mean Alyssa?” She flinched again, shit.

 

“Stop calling me that.” She grit out before suddenly seeming to realize what she said.

 

“Wait what?”

 

“N-nothing, it’s nothing I didn’t say-“

 

“No what did you mean? If you want me to call you something else I will.” Neil was well aware or not wanting to be connected to your name. She looked at him untrustingly before turning back to her knees.

 

“Harry.” She mumbled, before saying a bit louder, “I want to be called Harry.”

 

“Harry, that’s okay, we’ll go with Harry. Is it short for Harriett?”

 

“N-no it’s – it’s short for Harrison, Neil I’m… I’m not a girl.”

 

“O-kay… so if you’re not a girl what are you?” Neil was starting to realize what was going on. He was also starting to realize that maybe Harry had been flinching at the name Alyssa rather than the words around it.

 

“I think I'm a boy, I – I’m sorry I understand if you want me to go.” Her – no wait _his –_ shoulders were shaking and Neil just wanted to hug him, but instead he said in the calmest and softest voice he could muster.

 

“Harry can you look at me?” Aly – no, _Harry,_ he was not going to allow himself to keep making that mistake, turned to him with tear filled eyes. “I need you to know this okay and I'm speaking for both me and Andrew. Who you are is your decision, if you feel like a boy then you are a boy, I’m not ever going to tell you who you are. If you’re Harry then you’re Harry and you’re still my kid. That’s not changing.”

 

Harry’s eyes slowly got wider and wider throughout that speech until Neil was done, he opened his mouth once or twice as if trying to think of what to say before launching himself at Neil and wrapping his arms around him. Neil hugged his son before stirring slightly.

 

“What do you say we go and get some Starbucks and then head back to the cats and Andrew?”

 

Harry sniffed and nodded before standing up and heading to the car with Neil. Neil sent off a text to Andrew with just the minor details of the conversation and luckily Andrew was never one to ask too many questions and the smile that Harry had on his face when Andrew said, “You okay Harry?” When they got home, could have lit up the whole world.

 

                                                            _____________

 

Andrew had met some transgender kids during his time as a foster child. His first reaction when Neil texted him was oh fuck how are we going to help him and make things easier, his second thought was: whatever he needs to help him, we’ll give him. It was easier to change Harry’s name and gender in his mind then he imagined it might be for most; he wasn’t particularly worried or upset about it. What he was angry about was the fact that Harry hadn’t been able to tell anyone before and thought running away was the best option. That was heartbreaking in itself if he was honest.

 

When Harry and Neil got home, about an hour after Neil had texted, Harry was laughing with Neil and they looked so happy, it was a sight Andrew didn’t think he would ever tire of. Harry met his eyes and his mood sobered almost immediately into anxiety and that was something Andrew refused to allow. He’d be damned if his child was ever scared of him that was for sure, so he did the only thing he could do.

 

“You okay Harry?”

 

Harry’s smile was incredible, Andrew felt his lips twitch up at it but he smoothed it out, smiling was still a difficult concept for him, but laughing had slowly gotten easier over the years.

 

“I’m good! Neil and I got hot chocolates! We have one for you if you want it?” Harry always got shy whenever he asked any questions, Neil found it adorable and Andrew couldn’t help but agree with him.

 

“That sounds great thank you Harry, what do you say we go to the mall and get your hair cleaned up a little and buy some new clothes.” Harry’s eyes got wide at the mention of new clothes.

 

“Really? I- Mom didn’t like when I wore clothes that weren’t _girly.”_ He wrinkled his nose at the word girly. Andrew bent down a little so he could be at Harry’s height, it was a little embarrassing that he didn’t have to bend much, Harry was definitely going to be taller than both him and Neil once he grew up.

 

“We will never get mad at you about your clothes Harry. You are a boy and you are allowed to wear whatever makes you feel comfortable.” There was that smile again, before Harry suddenly got shy again.

 

“Can I – can I wear your old foxes hoodie out shopping Andrew?” Andrew paused, taken aback by that request; it wasn’t something he was expecting at all. He looked up at Neil and found him struggling to hide a grin. Andrew sighed long-sufferingly and turned back to Harry who was also grinning at his reaction.

 

“Of course you can.” And so he did.

 

The mall was crowded and Andrew felt his skin itch at the close proximity of a lot of strangers. Harry also seemed a little uncomfortable, keeping close to Andrew as Neil’s eyes darted around. He’d never quite grown out of seeking out all the exits. It would almost be endearing if there weren’t such a sad reason behind it. Andrew shook his head, refusing to think about those things, this was Harry’s day and they needed to be positive for him.

 

The first place they stopped at was a Barbershop, Harry looked a bit nervous so Neil came forward and asked for one boys haircut, Harry brightened considerably after that. His excitement when his brown hair was buzzed at the sides and back but the top was left floppy, much like Neil’s haircut, was enough to bring anyone’s mood up. They made their way through some shops after that, Harry picking out some baggy hoodies along with some jeans and some shirts with trains on them.

 

“I really like trains.”

 

“Why?” They were at lunch, Neil happily eating his sandwich while Harry and Andrew had burgers.

 

“They’re big and fast and they can take you anywhere away from places you don’t want to be.” Andrew felt his heart clench a little but luckily Neil took over for him.

 

“I used to love buses.”

 

“Why?” Harry looked very curious.

 

“I moved around a lot with my mom as a kid.” Andrew almost snorted at the way Neil left most of the reasoning for that out, “we used to take buses everywhere, they were kind of like a safe haven for me.” Harry nodded and mulled this over before Neil got a mischievous look. “Can I tell you a secret?” Harry giggled and leaned in as Neil fake whispered. “Andrew’s afraid of planes,” Andrew wacked him over the back of the head as he laughed, and Harry stared at Andrew in surprise.

 

“Why don’t you like planes?”

 

“I'm not the biggest fan of heights,” he sighed, Harry stared at him in shock.

 

“I thought you weren’t afraid of anything?”

 

“Everyone is afraid of something” Andrew said, Harry mulled this over before nodding seriously.

 

“I'm afraid of a lot of things.” He looked at Andrew with such seriousness that Andrew nodded. Neil ruffled Harry’s hair before telling them it was time to start shopping again.

 

They wandered around the mall a bit longer, Harry got some new shoes and a couple of new train toys which he was ecstatic about. Eventually though he started yawning so they called it a day and packed all the bags into the car. Harry was in high spirits about his new clothes, Neil was smiling, pleased that they had given him something that made him so happy and Andrew honestly felt the same.

 

They made dinner once they got home, just spaghetti and they lounged in front of the TV and then it was Harry’s bedtime. He read a book to Andrew before snuggling down to sleep. Andrew and Neil both said goodnight from the door as they turned out the light, and as they were turning away they heard a soft voice from the bed.

 

“Goodnight dads.”

 

They stared at each other in shock for a minute before Neil grinned and Andrew couldn’t help the way his lips twitched up.  Bringing up a child wouldn’t always be easy, there were going to be tantrums, arguments and frustration. But just from those two words both he and Neil could see. That child, their son, was worth it all.

**Author's Note:**

> We hope you enjoyed!!  
> This may end up becoming a series of itself but we're not sure, let us know what you thought!  
> Thank you for reading


End file.
